The earliest unmistakable documentation of bobbin lace is the pattern book of
LePompe, published in 1559. The woodcuts are clearly representations of
bobbinlace designs, and can even be used still as a basis on which to make
bobbin lace. (The full facsimile is available online at
http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/CadresFenetre?O=IFN-8622058&M=chemindefer ) There are references in inventories of the late 1400s to "bone lace" which was probably bobbin lace. It is commonly
believed that early lace makers used chicken leg bones to wind the thread on and
manipulate the threads. However it is also believed that early
passamenterie - gold and silver braids meant to be laid onto the surface of
velvet or brocade garments - used pig knuckle bones for the same purpose.
These passamenterie braids are probably the origin of bobbin lace. We have
no way of knowing what these "bone laces" referred to in the inventories looked
like.

Contrary to what seems logical, bobbin lace did not start simple and become
complex as the years passed. Rather it shows complexity and variety of
working methods from the very earliest. The laces in LePompe are of three
types: the majority are braid based (plait based) straight laces.
Some of these show sections of cloth stitch to vary the texture and thickness of
the lines of the design and some show five hole ground (Flanders ground) as the crossing of two
braids (4 pairs). The next largest number of laces are tape laces where a
meandering strip winds around making loops, and touching itself and
attaching to itself (using the part lace structure). Some of these show tiny
figures, which can only be made by hanging in and cutting out threads as needed
(also using part lace structure). The third type are geometric straight laces
where the woodcut shows little diamond shapes. The most likely
interpretation of these woodcuts would be torchon type laces (straight lace).
See Bobbinlace: Two Structural
Classes
for an explanation of straight lace/part lace/mesh and guipure. See
Lace Terminology for the names of the parts
of a lace with pictures .

The history and development of bobbin lace is highly complex and tangled,
which makes it fascinating. In very broad terms one can divide its history
into a few periods:

1559-1700 Early development of a variety of working methods
and styles: Antwerp, Genoese, Milanese. But only very rarely do laces of
this age appear in private collections and I have almost no pictures to show you
(only some I have made from LePompe patterns or other old laces). (See
below for red highlighted kinds.) Many beautiful examples do exist in
museums, including the Art Institute of Chicago.

The LePompe style braid/plait based laces developed into
Genoese style laces, with tallies made of 6-8 pairs, fans and other motifs. The
widest braid laces often have 2 braid crossings worked as 5 hole ground.
So grounds may have originated in braid/plait based laces.
The tape laces of LePompe developed into Milanese and Flemish tape laces, which
began to include fancy decorative stitches in the tape itself. Some of these
transformed into part laces, with individual motifs which changed width and
required temporary threads to be added. The conceptual origin of the Antwerp straight laces
is difficult to identify. Laces from the St. Carolus Borromeuskerk suggest
an origin in cloth stitch strips with openwork areas. They may be
a development of the torchon laces of LePompe, but are much more complex, with
floral and vine-like designs. The complexity is against a torchon
progenitor. These laces tended to use Flanders or Paris
grounds.

1700-1790 The eighteenth century was the height of lace
complexity, delicacy and fine quality in nearly all categories of construction and style.

The city of Mechlin (Malines) in the territory of Flanders
became the primary source for straight laces. During the early part of
this century many grounds might be found, including Flanders, Paris, Binche
snowflakes and snowballs, Valenciennes and Mechlin. Towards the middle of
the century the variety of grounds reduced and Flanders ground became the most
common, with Mechlin appearing often. Some of these laces used gimp to outline
the motifs and make them stand out. Paris, snowflakes and snowballs
disappeared as grounds, but continued to be used as fillings. Laces of
this type without gimp are often called Valenciennes or Binche, but the designs
and working methods were all similar.

Just as the century began one finds tape laces with a curlicue
tape wandering through the design, and the tape has pinholes only on one side.
In the first decade one begins to see laces with a motif outlined in this narrow
kind of tape, and filled with half stitch. In other words, this is the
beginning of raised work.

In the early part of the century the headside edge was mostly
straight, but shallow scallops began to appear on the edge in the 1720s and
became more pronounced in the 1730s and 1740s.

In the early years laces, whether straight laces or part
laces, tended to have motifs which covered nearly the whole surface, with very
little space given to the ground. As the century progressed this
proportion changed, and ground occupied more of the surface area of the design.
By c 1750 the division was about 50/50, but by the 1780s ground might occupy 80%
of the surface area.

During this period- the 1700s - braid/plait based laces virtually
disappeared.

Plain machine made net began to be possible in the 1780s, and
the continued proliferation and availability of this clear net began to
influence the style of handmade laces and provoked the development of new styles
and working methods in bobbin lace. The use of clear machine made net as the
background with handmade motifs appliqued onto it, began to be common c.
1825-1850. It also became easily available circa 1820-1840 for use in in hand embroidered laces
(darned or chain stitched/tambour), and later.

1790- c.1825 The Napoleonic era. Laces of this period
are distinct and quite different in style from earlier laces and are easily
recognizable.

They have small repeats -- an inch or less in length -- at the
headside, with an expanse of empty ground between the motifs and the footside.
The headside was nearly straight. As time went on, small spots began to
appear in the ground, at first square tallies dotted in a regular way throughout
the ground. As time went on little gimp circles replaced the tallies, then
small gimp motifs, then slightly more complex motifs. And the headside
became more scalloped, with prominent scallops being the norm in the 1820s.
As this happened, the length of the repeat also increased. All these
Napoleonic laces used either Mechlin ground or point ground. But as time
went on the Mechlin ground was permanently replaced by point ground.

c. 1825-late 19th century. The nineteenth century in
general saw various attempts to design laces which would be quicker to work than
the 18th century varieties. Point ground laces dominated the mesh straight
lace category for this reason. It was much faster to work than the earlier
complex grounds like Binche snowflake, Flanders or Paris. Cluny
laces were created in the early to mid century following the design style and
structure of the Genoese laces in the Cluny museum. These in turn were the
source of inspiration for Maltese and Bedfordshire laces. New styles
continued to develop, but in general they all show simpler structure which
allows for greater speed in working. The primary exception to
this was the development of braid based laces in Bedfordshire, especially the
Thomas Lester Bedfordshire, which were highly complex, detailed and difficult to
make. Rosaline was one of these new styles which attempted to make
lace faster. It developed out of Duchesse, and usually uses a pin after 2
edge to its motifs instead of the pin after 4 edge. Designs consist of
stylized flowers, leaves and scrolls. It often has needlemade rings
(called pops) appliqued, instead of bobbin made raised work which is part of the
best Duchesse.

1890-1910 Revival era lace. The time boundaries of this
era may not be exactly these years, but was generally the late 19th and early
20th centuries. During this period lace merchants, designers, and teachers
were trying to inject life into an old industry, trying to keep it alive amidst
clear signs that it was dying. The efforts at designing faster
laces, as was done during the 19th century generally, was found to be
insufficient to achieve this. They looked at old laces and tried to
simplify the designs and working methods to make laces even faster. They
resurrected styles that had gone dormant and tried to design new pieces using
some of those techniques. For the most part revival era laces are
stylistically distinct from their older sources (motif shapes had to appeal to a
then modern taste), and somewhat simplified in
working methods. When the pieces were made
into wearable objects clothing styles had changed since the 18th century and
collars had to fit in with modern taste. The shapes of these wearable
laces changed from the shapes of the much older laces, and this is often the
easiest way to distinguish them from their older parent. But the merchants were
trying to compete with machine made laces. This was their mistake.
They were trying to sell lace as yard goods; they should have been marketing it
as wearable art (or marketing it as modern high priced dress designers market
their $20,000 dresses). Much of the lace that modern lacemakers make is
derived from these revival era versions.

After the first world war hand made bobbin lace virtually
ceased. There still were schools and teachers and some still continued
making it, but there was no international trade and its use in fashion ceased,
and it ceased to be a way of earning a living.

1970s to present: the New Revival. In the 1970s there
began a resurgence of interest in bobbin lace, but by hobbyists, not as a
commercial venture. These new lace makers started with the simpler laces,
then moved on to the old Revival era types. During the 1980s some
designers began researching the old laces in museums and trying to make accurate
patterns from these laces. At first they focused on 19th century laces.
There were several books published of point ground laces and Bedfordshire laces
from small local museums.
But during the 1990s, and still continuing, they are studying and documenting
the 18th and 17th century laces, making accurate and detailed diagrams of the
most complex old laces and thus making them accessible to modern lacemakers.
But in addition to all this "retrieval" activity, some are also designing new
laces using all the most complex old working methods, but with flower shapes
and designs more in keeping with modern taste. This is a very exciting time to be
involved in bobbin lace.

Antwerp Pottenkant, Milanese tape lace and Flemish tape lace
throw this neat list into disarray because they overlap several periods.
Pottenkant was an Antwerp straight lace which started in the mid 1600s, c. 1650.
According to Santina Levey it started as a high fashion lace, but fashion
changed. The old style continued to be made until about 1850 but the
latter 75% of this time period it was sold to the peasantry as part of their
costume, especially cap lace; but also was used locally as furnishing lace.
This makes it very difficult to date any particular piece with any accuracy.
The style stopped changing. It is changes in style and the shapes of the
pieces (dictated by fashion) that allow us to date laces. When the lace
ceases to follow this pattern of changing styles and shapes you can't pinpoint
its time of origin. A somewhat similar situation occurred with Flemish and
Milanese tape laces, particularly the latter. They were made continuously
from about 1650 to about 1850. But around 1700 the style and delicacy of
fashion lace changed drastically. Laces from the old patterns couldn't be
sold as fashion laces, but were useful as furnishing linen and for church use.

I have used Santina Levey's book LACE, A HISTORY, published
1983 by the Victoria and Albert Museum to develop my understanding of bobbin
lace history. Also, during the 1980s I did a lot of private study at the
Art Institute of Chicago, viewing their bobbin lace collection under the
microscope. Just prior to the time I started this study Ms. Levey had been
invited to identify and comment on their lace collection. So the
descriptions of the individual pieces that I heard from the staff were Levey's
comments and interpretations. The collection held nearly 1000 pieces of
bobbin lace. I saw several hundred, more actual examples than are in her
book.

In general there are several factors which one looks at in determining the
age and provenance of a particular piece of lace, all factors which change over
time and therefore may give clues.

Thread used: linen, cotton, silk, metal gilt paper strips.

The scale: is the thread very very fine, moderate or coarse. This
will distinguish laces for clothing from laces for altar linens. But
it also will distinguish what sizes of thread were available. Since
WWI really fine linen just doesn't exist.

The shape of the lace's edge: scalloped, straight, v-shaped or toothed.
Fashion dictates changes in this.

The width of a lace used as an edging.

The ratio of ground to motif over the surface of the lace as a whole.

Overall shape of the object. Collar shapes, for instance, change
with fashion. What is an acceptable shape in 1640 is not acceptable in
1890.

The shape and style of the motifs, which changes with the aesthetic
taste of the age.

Is there a turned corner (designed into the lace), or are there tucks or
gathers to shape it? Turned corners began appearing in the last half
of the 19th century. Modern lacemakers insist on turned corners.
Historic lacemakers made straight yardage, which was later sewn into
whatever shape was needed. If it has a turned corner it must be more
recent than 1850.

I have divided the photographs between several web pages so each page will
load more quickly, while still trying to maintain historic cohesion.
Please be patient, there are a lot of photos and some of
the pages are slow to load. All the images on these pages are thumbnails, reduced
versions of the original photograph. Click wherever you see a hand to view
the original image, with all its detail.